Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Ground Pork Ramen

Guys, 2014 has been rough! The day after Christmas I came down with the flu, and after a few days of fever and aches and pains, I was left with bronchitis for New Year's Eve. And then, lucky me, that morphed into an awesome sinus infection.

I was finally starting to feel a bit more like a human, but then, last weekend, we flew to San Francisco for a quick weekend trip that had been booked a month or so ago, and not only did we have horrible travel luck (we had to land in San Jose because of fog, and ended up just renting a car and driving to SF, and had tons of crazy delays), but I had an insane burning in my chest and pressure in my ears, and felt like I was dying the whole time. Literally, I thought to myself "this is what dying feels like." Pro tip: if you have a respiratory infection you shouldn't fly. You will get an ear infection. In both ears.

So: flu, bronchitis, sinus infection, double ear infection. That's been my last two weeks. Luckily the antibiotics are doing the trick and the pressure in my ears is subsiding enough for me to actually hear, but really, all I want is to stop coughing. If you have any home remedies, send 'em my way, because the cough drops, cough syrup, meds, honey, tea, water, vapor rub… it's not working. I even tried a home remedy I found online: boiled flax seeds, honey, and lemon. It pretty much turns into a snot-like consistency that's terrible and impossible to choke down.

Needless to say, my appetite has been lousy (but, at least that counter-acts all the laying on the couch I've been doing!). I finally worked up the energy to get up and cook something, and all I could imagine eating was ramen. Traditional ramen, with it's flavorful broth, takes a lot of time to make, but I'm not opposed to quick at-home versions that you can whip up on weeknight. Or a sick night.

I had a Thai soup recently with ground pork, and I thought that would be awesome in ramen, since I usually just see sliced pork. I ground my own pork, because that's how I do, then just added some aromatics, sesame oil, broth, ramen noodles from a Top Ramen package, bok choy, and a poached egg. Don't skip the egg! When you mix the yolk into the broth it gets all creamy and delicious. Totally worth it.

I'm hoping this soup puts me on the road to wellville, because I can't handle too much more of this crud. This soup, on the other hand…I can handle a whole lot more of this soup!

Ground Pork Ramen

Serves 4

1 lb ground pork

4 garlic cloves, minced

1.5 teaspoons fresh minced ginger

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

6 cups low sodium chicken broth

Salt & pepper

2 packages of ramen noodles, seasoning packet removed (toss it)

4 eggs

2 baby bok choy, sliced

2 green onions, sliced

Sriracha or hot sauce of choice

Black sesame seeds

Put pork in a large bowl, and stir in garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and vinegar.

In a large pot, heat sesame oil over medium, and add pork. Cook until done. Add chicken broth, and bring to a boil. Boil for a minute, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer. Taste, and add salt and pepper as needed.

While soup is simmering, in a separate pot, cook noodles according to package, drain, and add to each serving bowl.

Poach eggs. You can do this in a separate pot of simmering water, or you can poach them in the simmering broth (it will be a bit more difficult to scoop them out, with the pork in there, but it's easy enough. Just crack each egg into a dish, and gently lower into the broth. Let cook a couple of minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon, and put an egg in each bowl, on top of noodles.

Divide bok choy among bowls, and then ladle on pork and broth. Top with green onions, sesame seeds, and serve with hot sauce.